Simon Read was an undergraduate student at Leeds University, graduating in 1973 with a BA honours degree in Fine Art. Between1973 and 1975 he was a postgraduate student in Fine Art at then Chelsea School of Art, now Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London.
He has worked as a lecturer at Middlesex University since 1975, attaining the post of Associate Professor in 2014. He has very broad experience in higher education, working as visiting lecturer in Fine Art for Chelsea College of Art 1975-2007, at Bath College of Higher Education 1978-1990 and several other institutions nationally at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. He has acted as External Examiner at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD for several institutions including Slade School, Gloucestershire University, Plymouth University, Falmouth University.
He has a log-standing relationship with Higher Education in Norway working between 1990 and 1997 as Amanuensis in Sculpture for Vestlandets Kunstakademiet, Bergen and visiting lecturer at Statens Akademiet, Oslo and Kunstakademiet i Trondheim. Between 2000 and 2004, he worked for the Norwegian Government aid organization, NORAD on the Art Academy Without Walls Scheme in Zambia, setting up and equipping courses in photography for mature artists in Lusaka, in collaboration with Statens Kunstakademi Oslo.
His academic responsibilities range across coordination and contributing to the delivery of the Fine Art Programme at all Levels.
As a researcher he is a consultant artist for the AHRC Research Programme, "Towards Hydrocitizenship" within which Middlesex University is a partner with the Lee Valley as its case study area.
Simon has enjoyed a long and varied career as an artist specializing in applications of photography, as an experienced practitioner in the public commissioned art sector and more recently, capitalizing upon his unique position as an artist with a great deal of knowledge and direct understanding of environmental dynamics through his way of life on the Suffolk Coast, coupled with his position as a senior academic, to foster a discussion on an interdisciplinary and international basis between academics, engineers, government agency officers, politicians and local communities upon the vital importance of appreciating the cultural implications of environmental change.
At present, he divides his time between academic role, his duties as an executive member of community organisations collaborating upon an Estuary Management Plan for the River Deben Estuary in Suffolk, and as an advisor for restoration works upon saltmarsh in the intertidal zone. Simon is also an enthusiastic advocate for a culturally engaged approach to landscape management, frequently speaking at events locally, nationally and internationally.
Leak, Samuel and Read, Simon and Glaser, Will (2019) EFG London Jazz Festival: Sam Leak Trio "The Craft of Sound". [Performance]
Leak, Samuel and Read, Simon and Davis, Jay and Galvin, Elliot and McCredie, Tom and Dick, Corrie (2019) Cambridge International Jazz Festival: Elliot Galvin Trio + Sam Leak Trio. [Performance]
Leak, Samuel and Read, Simon and Glaser, Will (2019) Birmingham International Piano Festival: Sam Leak Trio. [Performance]
Rendón, Olivia R. and Garbutt, Angus and Skov, Martin and Möller, Iris and Alexander, Meghan and Ballinger, Rhoda and Wyles, Kayleigh and Smith, Greg and McKinley, Emma and Griffin, John and Thomas, Merryn and Davidson, Kate and Pagès, Jordi F. and Read, Simon and Beaumont, Nicola (2019) A framework linking ecosystem services and human well‐being: Saltmarsh as a case study. People and Nature , 4 . pp. 486-496. ISSN 2575-8314 (Published online first)
Halvorson, Mary and Ho Bynum, Taylor and Delbecq, Benoît and Fujiwara, Tomas and Leak, Samuel and Read, Simon and Storey, David (2017) EFG London Jazz Festival: Illegal Crowns + Sam Leak. [Performance]
